What’s the ‘Kalaignar’ channel got to do with Ratan Tata, Dayanidhi Maran and the telecom sector?
NEW DELHI: What’s the ‘Kalaignar’ channel got to do with Ratan Tata, Dayanidhi Maran and the telecom sector?
Just like in the soaps that channels spew, there are plots, twists and turns with potentially interesting ramifications. Kalaignar begins beaming on August 15, and is owned by the family of Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi. The channel is likely to offer a key role in the broadcasting company to K V P Baskaran, CEO and director of Aircel, the mobile operator.
Baskaran, it turns out, is the brother-in-law of NRI businessman C Sivasankaran, who is considered close to the Tata group and its chairman Ratan Tata. Kalaignar is being launched to rival the Sun TV network, run by Kalanidhi Maran, brother of former communications minister Dayanidhi Maran.
During his tenure as cabinet minister, Maran is understood to have had differences with the Tatas over issues related to the telecom sector. The Tatas and the Sun group also have competing interests in the media space. While the Tatas are in a joint venture with Rupert Murdoch’s Star group for direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting project, Sun also plans to launch its own DTH platform.
Dayanidhi Maran recently wrote to PM, requesting him to inquire into attempts by “an NRI businessman” and “other vested interests” to stall the tender process of BSNL for GSM lines.
Maran did not specifically name Sivasankaran.Meanwhile, Karunanidhi’s daughter, Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha member, is expected to be inducted as the communications minister in the next cabinet reshuffle.
Maran had to quit as communications minister recently after controversy erupted over an opinion poll conducted by Dinakaran, the Sun group’s newspaper based in Tamil Nadu, on who could be Karunanidhi’s successor.
The poll is said to have created a rift in the Karunanidhi family, mainly between the DMK chief’s two sons M K Stalin and M K Azhagiri.
As the poll went against Azhagiri, his supporters resorted to rioting and agitation in the state, which led to three deaths. After Maran quit, Andimuthu Raja of the DMK took over as the communications minister.
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